What is recorded here

Rathdonnell Fort stands on a low Donegal hill, its massive earthen bank rising four metres outside and enclosing a small oval stone well in the southeast. The structure is not a grand palace but a compact defensive ring where water remained reachable during siege. Trees now choke the bank and soil has shifted the entrance, yet the well still holds its shape beneath the grass. Whatever life occurred inside that circle depended on this hidden throat of water, and the fort exists to protect it.

Rathdonnell Fort is a subcircular area (DG052-007001-) enclosed by a massive earthen bank up to 1.3m in height on the interior and from 3.5m to 4m on the exterior. To the SE there are vague traces of a shallow ditch and 7.5m to the SW a smaller earthen bank, continuing as a field boundary, follows the curve of the enclosure. It is not clear whether either of these features are original. The bank is now planted with trees and the monument has been interfered with including the entrance to the E which has been landscaped. In the SE sector is an oval (1.7m × 1m) underground dry stone structure roofed with slabs. It is believed to be a well. Otherwise the interior is level. It is located on top of a low hill in good pasture land. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

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